Disclaimer : I do not own Love Live!
"Good morning Umi-chan!" Kotori met the bluenette on the way to school and immediately run toward her and greeted her with a smile.
"Good morning." Without looking back at Kotori, Umi continued to walk and face forward.
Getting that kind of reaction, Kotori looked a little down. "Umi-chan, is something wrong?" Kotori asked the older girl worriedly.
"It's nothing." Again Umi answered without looking at Kotori. Even though Umi said that it was nothing, Kotori could feel that something wasn't right. Somehow she felt that Umi was a lot colder than before and it happened right after they trip to Maki's vacation house. Even though they still had a conversation here and there, but like now Umi always tried to keep it short as possible as she could. Kotori thought that maybe she has done wrong somewhere but she couldn't figure out what it was.
I wonder why…
Lost in her own thought Kotori didn't realized that Honoka was calling her name from behind when finally she manage to catch up with Kotori and tapped her from behind.
"Kyaaa?!" felling Honoka's sudden tap Kotori surprised.
"Kotori-chan, I called you several times but you didn't respond at all!" Honoka whose now walking beside Kotori pouted.
"I-I'm sorry Honoka-chan I was spacing out before. Why don't you call Umi-chan instead?" Kotori said apologetically.
"Umi-chan? But I don't see her anywhere." Honoka looked at Kotori with confused look.
"Eh? But Umi-chan is right…" Kotori turned her head to face the bluenette but without she realized Umi was already nowhere to be found.
It's already lunch break when Kotori finally had a chance to talk to Umi again.
"Umi-chan let's eat lunch together." Kotori walked to the bluenette desk while bringing her lunch box on her hands.
"I forgot to bring mine today. You should go ahead with Honoka I'll go buy something." Without looking back at the younger girl Umi got up from her seat and immediately dashed out of the class, leaving Kotori and Honoka behind.
"Ah Umi-chan!" without a chance to said anything Umi already lost from their sight.
"It's rare for Umi-chan to forget her lunch, I wonder if something happened, Kotori-chan do you know something?" Honoka turned around to face the younger girl.
"Hmmm I don't." Kotori shook her head.
After that whenever Kotori tried to talk to the older girl, she always tried to avoid her. Whenever Kotori looked at Umi's brown eyes she always diverted it somewhere else. And without able to talked to the bluenette again, lunch break already over. It's clear to her now that Umi was avoiding her. She didn't know why though. As long as she remembered she hasn't done anything that made Umi upset.
Is it because of what happened in Maki-chan's vacation house? Maybe she didn't like it? But Umi-chan was the one who pulled herself closer to me. But what if she only swept up in the moment? After all her memories about me haven't returned yet, she must be surprised of what happened back then. If that so I must apologize to her.
"Kotori-chan, hey Kotori-chan!" Kotori who heard Honoka's whisper turned her head aside. "Are you okay? You've been spacing out a lot today." Honoka said to the younger girl with concerned look.
"I'm okay Honoka-chan." Kotori replied and let out a smile, trying to reassure her best friend. Seeing Kotori's smile Honoka let out a relief sigh.
The class was already over when Kotori once more tried to talk to Umi but Honoka already preceded her.
"Umi-chan, let's go to the clubroom!" Honoka said cheerfully.
Umi didn't answer until she finally finished tidying her belonging and zipped her bag. She stood up and opened her mouth.
"I'm sorry Honoka I don't feeling well today. I think I'll head home."
"Are you okay Umi-chan? Do you want us to take you home?" Honoka said worriedly.
"I'm fine it's just a little headache. You should just go with Kotori." Umi looked at her best friend and smiled. Little did she know that Kotori realized that she was forced it.
After going their separate way from Umi, Honoka talked to Kotori on their way to the clubroom. "Shouldn't you go and catch up to her Kotori-chan?"
"I don't think Umi-chan want me to." Kotori shook her head in reply and forced a smile making Honoka look at her with worriedly.
The next few days Umi was still avoiding Kotori. Even if she manage to talk with the bluenette when she tried to talk to Umi about what happened in Maki's vacation house she immediately brush off the topic. It's been a week already and now Kotori didn't know what to do. She didn't want to keep things going like they were now. She wanted to talk to Umi again normally. Even if Umi's memories about her never return she thought that it was okay as long as Umi still talked to her like usual. But this was more than she could handle. Not being able to talk to the one she loved of course made her suffer and she couldn't bear it.
Kotori sat alone in the classroom, looking afar at the window. Umi said that she needed to do something first in the archery club while Honoka was already left to the clubroom. She knew that she has made Honoka worried about her but she couldn't tell her about what has been bothering her. She thought that it's not the right time yet to tell her best friend. She took a deep breath and let out a sigh. Droplets of water start falling down from outside the windows when she felt that her own tears began to flow along with the rain.
"Kotori-chan?"
Kotori startled when she heard someone calling her name from behind. She wiped her tears away before she turned to see who it was.
"Nozomi-chan? What are you doing here?" it turned out to be that the person who called her was Nozomi. She was standing beside the door and now walking towards Kotori's direction while looking around the classroom.
"I'm looking for Honoka-chan, there is something I want to ask her." Nozomi replied and now she was right in front of Kotori.
"Honoka-chan already went to the clubroom." Kotori replied and forced a smile. Silence fell between them for awhile when finally Nozomi broke it down.
"Kotori-chan you were crying before weren't you?" Nozomi took a seat in Umi's desk in front of Kotori's.
"I-I'm not Nozomi-chan, really!" Kotori tried her best to deny it but it was no use. The opponent was Nozomi after all.
"Is it has something to do with Umi-chan?" Nozomi asked carefully didn't want to sound like she was forcing Kotori to tell her what happened. Kotori finally give up. She nodded weakly to Nozomi.
"If you don't mind you can talk to me about it." Nozomi smiled gently at the younger girl and finally Kotori told Nozomi about everything that happened except about Honoka's diary and what happened with Umi in Maki's vacation house.
"In other word, Umi-chan has been avoiding you this whole week and you didn't know what make her did that?" Nozomi asked the younger girl to make clear of the situation. Kotori nodded in replied.
"Have you tried to ask her about it?" Nozomi asked Kotori again.
"Of course I have but she always tried to avoid that topic." Kotori replied, looking down. Silence fell down between them again. The only sound they could hear was the pouring rain outside.
"Kotori-chan, don't you think that maybe Umi-chan knew something she shouldn't?" Nozomi said to Kotori and get up from her seat.
"What's the meaning of that, Nozomi-chan?" Kotori tilted her head in confussion, didn't understand what Nozomi means.
"You have to figure it out yourself~" Nozomi said teasingly and started to walk towards the door before she stopped and looked back. "Shouldn't we go to the clubroom now? The other must have been waiting for us."
Kotori still didn't move from her seat, thinking about what Nozomi said before means.
Something that Umi-chan shouldn't have known?
The next day as usual Umi still tried to avoid Kotori while Kotori still trying to figure out what Nozomi's words yesterday mean. Time passed by and without she realized the school was over already. As always Honoka invited Kotori and Umi to go to the clubroom together.
"I'm sorry I have to do something first. Honoka and Kotori could go on ahead." After said that Umi left the classroom in a rush leaving Honoka and Kotori alone, since the other student already went home.
"Say Kotori-chan, don't you think that Umi-chan is weird lately?" Honoka asked Kotori while frowned.
"Weird? How come?" Kotori asked the ginger-haired girl back curiously.
"Well… how to say it, it's like she purposely left us alone or something like that?" Honoka tilted her head and placed her hand on her chin.
Suddenly something click in Kotori's mind. Kotori immediately opened her bag to search for something that wasn't there already.
Don't tell me...
"Kotori-chan?" Honoka looked at Kotori with confussion, didn't understand what the younger girl was doing.
Where did I leave it? How could I didn't notice it!
Kotori once again trying to search for Honoka's diary in her bag but it wasn't there. She tried to look inside her locker behind the desk but she still couldn't find it.
"Kotori-chan what are you doing?" curious Honoka continued to ask.
Could it be that Umi-chan, already knew about the diary?
Lost in her own thought, Kotori didn't reply Honoka's question. She just kept searching for the diary. When she was about to give up, she saw a glimpse of book inside Umi's locker. Kotori approach Umi's desk and then she pulled the book from the locker. When she pulled it she could hear Honoka's suddenly shouted.
"Aaaah! That's my diary!" Honoka walked closer to Kotori and when she was exactly facing Kotori, she opened her mouth again. "Kotori-chan, you've read it haven't you?" Honoka asked the younger girl.
"I'm sorry Honoka-chan." Kotori returned the note to Honoka and look down. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go find Umi-chan first. We'll talk about it later." Just when Kotori was about to run out off the class, Honoka grabbed her hand.
"Wait Kotori-chan! Please don't go and her me out first."
"But…" Kotori tried to refuse.
"I promise it won't take long." Honoka convince Kotori and finally Kotori stopped and facing the brunette.
Honoka took a deep breath and then she opened her mouth. "Kotori-chan, I love you."
Hearing Honoka's confession Kotori keep silence for awhile didn't really know what to say. She already knew about Honoka's feeling from her diary. Sure she loved Honoka too but it was a different form of love from what she has for Umi. She loved Umi the most in the world and her loved for Honoka was a loved for a best friend, no less and no more.
I have to make up my mind, since Honoka-chan is really precious to me.
Kotori clenched both of her fists and opened her mouth. "I'm sorry Honoka-chan but…there's someone I already loved."
"I see…" Honoka looked down, making it hard for Kotori to read her expression. "Well it can't be helped then." Honoka then raised her face and smiled. After that silence fell between them.
"It was Umi-chan wasn't it?" Honoka suddenly said to Kotori.
"Eh?!" Kotori said in surprised.
"The truth is I already know about Umi-chan and you for a long time. I'm your best friend after all. At first I decided to keep my feeling to myself but then you found out about my diary. Even though I knew what the answer was gonna be, I fell that I have to tell you about my feelings." Honoka paused for awhile and walk closer to Kotori, caressing the younger girl hair. "I'm okay as long as you stay by my side and smiled, though." Honoka let out a big smile.
"Honoka-chan…" seeing Honoka's smile Kotori felt really guilty. She couldn't help but let her tears falling.
"Whoaa don't cry, Kotori-chan." Honoka panicked, didn't know what she should do. She then hugged the younger girl trying to calm her down.
"Don't cry Kotori-chan, I love seeing you smile more than anything else, so stop crying okay?" Honoka said while gently stroking Kotori's hair. After awhile Kotori finally calm down. Still being hugged by Honoka, Kotori wrapped her arms around Honoka as well.
"Thank you Honoka-chan." Kotori whispered to her best friend.
Suddenly they could hear the door was being opened by someone. They broke their hug and they could see a pair of brown eyes was looking at them with shocked look. Blue hair was dancing in the air as Umi ran, leaving the classroom in a blink of eye.
A/N : Hello it's me, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! I apologize for my bad grammar and any mistakes and I'm really sorry for the late update, I have a ton of assignment lately and it's almost final exams so I hardly get any time to write. But since holiday is coming closer, I'll try to update faster next time!
Well then see you next chapter!
